The Inter-American Parliamentary Group (IAPG), the American sister network of EPF, invited EPF as an observer to its IV Council meeting that took place on 27-28 July 2009 in Caracas, Venezuela.

 
Spanish MP Antonia García Valls represented EPF in the meeting. She was asked to address the forum about the experiences of European parliamentarians working with SRHR. Her speech about the work of EPF, the parliamentary groups and more particularly, the work of the Spanish APPG was very well received. Representatives from civil society, IPPF and UNFPA were also present. Parliamentarians had the chance to visit the parliament and were welcomed by the president of the Venezuelan parliament during a plenary session.

With very similar statutes as EPF, IAPG holds a Council meeting in order to appraise past activities and propose future activities of the parliamentary network. The network has recently expanded and representatives from parliamentary groups in Canada, the Dominican Republic and Panama requested for membership during the meeting. The EPF delegation was able to learn about the situation, activities, and challenges from each country. This year’s session was dominated with references to ICPD at 15 and the upcoming IPCI conference in Addis Ababa. It was widely regretted that Latin-America, despite of being the region with the most unequal distribution of wealth in the world, has been categorized as middle income region, thus an important part of ODA flows have been diverted to countries that may be poorer on average but have less social exclusion.

One of the most significant outcomes was the decision to create an American network of committed MPs to promote MDG 5, the reduction of maternal mortality and access to family planning. The objective of this network is to encounter opposition movements and parliamentarians that had been particularly successful in some countries of the region to roll back sexual and reproductive health and rights and to promote comprehensive and accessible family planning and reproductive health services. The structure and functioning of this platform will be further defined in future IAPG meetings.

It was also decided to explore the possibilities of holding the next Council meeting in Canada in conjunction with a side event to the G-8 Summit, which will take place next year in Canada.